Fabrication and Pulse Sequences Evaluation of Iron Oxides Nanoparticles as MRI Contrast Agent

• Published in: Key engineering materials Vol. 929; pp. 79 - 88
• Main Authors: Javid, Muhammad Arshad, Afzal, Hafiz M. Waseem, Buzdar, Saeed Ahmad, Nadeem, Muhammad, Khan, Shahid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Zurich Trans Tech Publications Ltd 24.08.2022
• Subjects: Anesthesia; Biomedical materials; Contrast agents; Image contrast; In vivo methods and tests; Iron oxides; Ketamine; Liver; Magnetic induction; Magnetic resonance imaging; Medical imaging; Nanoparticles; Rabbits; Spleen; Spleen; T2-Weighted; MRI; Liver; Contrast Agents
• ISSN: 1013-9826; 1662-9795; 1662-9795
• DOI: 10.4028/p-2wsh42

The objective of this in vivo study is to enhance the T2-weighted MRI contrast using superparamagnetic nanoparticles in liver and spleen of rabbits for biomedicine application. Superparamagnetic nanoparticles were synthesized using co-precipitation method. Superparamagnetic nanoparticles were characterized using SEM, EDX, VSM, magnetic resonance relaxation and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). T1 and T2 relaxations were measured as function of concentration of contrast agents in liver and spleen. High relaxivity ratio r2/r1 showed the efficacy of prepared T2- weighted MRI contrast agent. Rabbits were anesthetized using xylazine and ketamine salts for medical procedure. Ketamine and xylazine were injected with the dose rate of ketamine 25-40 mg/kg and xylazine 2.5-5mg/kg intra-muscularly for veterinary anesthesia. MRI of albino rabbits was executed at 0.35 Tesla using magnetic nanoparticles. FDA approved, 0.2 ml/kg dose of contrast agents was injected in rabbits for MRI scanning. MRI axial and coronal, T1-W and T2-W images of liver and spleen were taken using Spin Echo (SE) at TE=92 and TR=551 and STIR at TE=24 and TR=5170. Spin software was used to estimate the intensity of signal in region of interest induced by magnetic contrast agent. In vivo, MRI study of magnetic contrast agents demonstrated the high T2 -weighted contrast on MRI images of liver and spleen of rabbits. This research also concludes that superparamagnetic nanoparticles may be used as MRI contrast agents for biomedicine application to see the pathology of living organs even at low tesla field.